Exchanges in Belarus Face New Legislation

Crypto-exchanges operating in Belarus‘ high-tech Park will be required by law to hand over customer data. Although the new law has not come into effect yet, necessary legislation is still being worked on.The amendments will be incorporated into the Development of Digital Economy Decree that was signed in December 2017. The new laws also place a restriction on anyone willing to open an exchange platform in HTP. The exchanges will be required to provide information on the beneficial owners of the company and management structure.

In addition to providing information on beneficial owners, the owners must meet the requirements set. The beneficial owners must have at least $5 million in their accounts and the source of their wealth should be declared. Also, the owners must not be bankrupt and have no criminal records. Similarly, operators of the exchange must verify data provided to them by their clients. To verify the information, operators may use e-mail, face-to-face meeting, video calls, social networks or public sources. The operators will also have to record and store all types of information. Information collected from client’s transactions will be stored for at least five years. Storing of the data will help in case the exchanges and clients fall into a disagreement in the future. It will also provide information to the government when needed.

New Legislation will also touch on personnel

Apart from touching on data, the new law also requires exchange platforms to employ a technical director, a specialist in regulatory compliance and risk manager. The exchange platforms will also be required to adopt current financial standards. The amendments are in line with Belarus’s ideology of supporting cryptocurrency and blockchain technology development. Although Belarus HTP Park offers tax waivers to the exchanges platforms, the country is facing challenges in the banking sector. Belarus banks don’t have the infrastructure to facilitate virtual currency transactions. The financial drawback might discourage some exchange platforms from moving to Belarus.